Digital divide grows on high-speed Internet access

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5:20 pm PDT, Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press

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President Barack Obama records students on a classroom iPad while visiting a seventh grade classroom before speaking about goals of connecting students to next generation broadband and wireless technology within five years, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014, at Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi, Md. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) less

President Barack Obama records students on a classroom iPad while visiting a seventh grade classroom before speaking about goals of connecting students to next generation broadband and wireless technology ... more

Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press

Digital divide grows on high-speed Internet access

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In a state that's dependent on technological innovation to drive its economic future, it's both surprising and disturbing to learn that 25 percent of California households still lack high-speed Internet.

According to a statewide Field Poll released Tuesday, home broadband adoption rates have been treading water for the past several years - and millions of disadvantaged Californians are being left behind.

What's particularly troubling about the poll is who does not have broadband at home. Only 32 percent of adults who haven't graduated from high school have home access. For Spanish-speaking Latinos, the rate is just 46 percent. Low-income households (income of less than $20,000 per year) are at 53 percent, while people with disabilities have a rate of 59 percent.

The digital divide is alive and well.

This will have tremendous implications for the future of the next generation of Californians. Even basic jobs now require some digital skills, and it's clear from these numbers that many people in California aren't going to be able to learn those skills at home.

There are also real impacts for public health. Only 47 percent of those who are 65 and older have home broadband, and increasingly, digital connection is important to independence and quality-of-life issues. Sixty-one percent of home computer users said that they got medical information or communicated with their doctors online; the numbers are substantially lower for those without it.

There has been some progress in broadband access if you count smartphones. Higher percentages of noncitizens, Latinos, African Americans and low-income households access broadband at home using only a smartphone. (Eight percent of California adults have only a smartphone to connect to the Internet at home.) The problem is, as the poll found, people who only have a smartphone to connect to the Internet are far less likely to build digital skills, get health or medical information or access services like online banking. Parents are likelier to use a home computer to help their children with schoolwork.

A smartphone is helpful, but it's too small to use for these kinds of information-heavy activities. But these are the activities that will help Californians improve their quality of life and close the state's many achievement gaps.

What can be done now? The state has a goal to achieve 80 percent home broadband adoption by 2017. It seems unlikely to meet that without serious help.

Unfortunately, expanding access to broadband is unlikely to be a priority for large telecommunications companies, many of which are merging. These large mergers, which can leave consumers with only a single broadband provider in their areas, aren't good for the country. Since they're likely to lead to higher prices, too, that means they're a threat to access for communities who are currently missing out.

There's a role for federal regulators in encouraging Internet providers to offer affordable service for lower-income consumers. As far as the country's future goes, getting online has become as basic a need as phone service is.